CBA Record October 2018

19TH ANNUAL STEVENS AWARDS LUNCHEON HELD ON SEPTEMBER 27 Celebrating the Best of the Best

Brook

Durkin

Gallo

Mascherin

Bellows

Neville

Rochford

Tchen

Reyes

By Judge E. Kenneth Wright, Jr. Editorial Board Member F or the 19th year, the Chicago Bar Association and Chicago Bar Foun- dation honored a select group of lawyers and judges with the Justice John Paul Stevens Award. As President Steven Elrod noted, each honoree possesses Justice Stevens-like qualities of compassion, good manners, and “off the field activities” by performing or participating in works of public service. Here are this year’s recipients: Laurel G. Bellows, of Bellows Law Group, has served as president of the American Bar Association (2012-13) and the second woman president of the Chicago Bar Association (1991-92), and is an outspoken advocate in the fight to end human trafficking. In a personal statement in the program, Bellows wrote that the practice of law and her life “are intertwined,” in ways that allow her to “help others in crisis,” as well as “take small steps to change the world each day.” Carole A. Brook, retired Executive Director of the Federal Defender Program, has been a board member of CeaseFire Illinois, Friends of Northside College Prep., and a member of the Hawthorne

Scholastic Academy Local School Council, and is widely respected for her writings on the criminal justice system. KevinDurkin, of Clifford LawOffices, served as President of the CBA in 2006- 2007. Among other activities, he coaches, sponsors, and promotes girls’ softball. Durkin told the attendees that he sat next to Justice Stevens at a dinner and was some- what intimidated until the conversation turned to baseball. Stevens, an inveterate, long suffering Cubs fan, told about his witnessing the Cubs game in 1932 when Babe Ruth pointed to the outfield and then proceeded to hit a home run. John Gallo , formerly of Sidley Austin LLP, heads the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago (LAF). He was outside trial counsel to the Judicial Inquiry Board (JIB). In his remarks he emphasized the importance of legal aid lawyers and volunteers in making equal justice under law a reality and not just a promise. Terri L. Mascherin, of Jenner and Block, served as president of the CBA in 2010-2011. She volunteers for a wide range of service providers, including the Anti-Defamation League to the Duke University Leadership Counsel (Women’s Impact Network) to Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights.

Justice P. Scott Neville, Jr. serves on the Illinois Supreme Court. In 1999 Justice Neville received the prestigious Vanguard Award from the CBA and a Presidential Award from the ISBA. In his comments, Justice Neville focused on the equal pro- tection clause of the Constitution that “no person be unseen or unheard.” Justice Jesse G. Reyes, of the Illinois Appellate Court, has a distinguished career in his role on the judiciary. He has volun- teered for and participated in numerous positions. He is President of the Diversity Scholarship. He stressed the importance of civility and courtesy in the true tradition of Justice Stevens. Justice Mary Kay Rochford, of the Illi- nois Appellate Court, has been in service as a member of the judiciary for 27 years. In her comments she stressed the importance of access to justice and thanked public interest lawyers for being the bedrock of our profession. Christina M. Tchen, of Buckley Sandler’s Chicago office, has served as an Assistant to President Obama and Chief of Staff to First Lady Michelle Obama. She expressed concern that our nation’s ideals are under threat and implored attorneys to stand up and be guardians of the gates of justice.

14 OCTOBER 2018